Stories thread - King of the Romans PBM

[GeneralHankerchief]

A small church outside of Genoa, 1154

If one was to walk into the church at that very moment, that person would have found Kaiser Heinrich alone, kneeling at the front pew, deep in prayer. However, if that person were to be specifically looking for the Kaiser, they would have been turned away by the numerous guards surrounding the church. Heinrich had specifically ordered that he be given time for solitude. And so, he was left alone in that small church, with the candles flickering and figure of the crucified Jesus staring down imposingly at him.

He did not confess his sins; he believed that there was nothing to confess. In his heart he truly thought that he had done right all these years. He was restoring the power of investiture to its proper place, ridding the world and Christendom of an usurper and false prophet.

No, he did not seek forgiveness. He had come to this church at this time to pray for success in the upcoming battle. The final battle.

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation."

The last few years had been a blur to Heinrich. He had remembered receiving the official notice of excommunication, remembered the glory of finally entering and taking Rome, remembered the Diet's explosion and its grim realization that it could do nothing. After that, however... silence. Life moved on, and Heinrich's internal hourglass had a few more grains trickle to the bottom.

Pope Gregory, in an expected move, had besieged Genoa immediately after Rome fell. However, in an unexpected move, he had assaulted very quickly and easily overwhelemed the garrison. This turned out to be a blessing, however, as he was trapped at last. The Bavarian Household Army, led by Duke Otto von Kassel, had besieged the city again, and the Kaiser's army had followed. The long period of waiting and construction was over. Soon it would be time to assault.

"Blessed be the Lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:
My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
Lord, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!
Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.
Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;
Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.
It is he that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood:
That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:
That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:
That our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.
Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord."

It seemed as if all his life had been leading up to this moment. The Pope had broken away from the Reich when he was six; ever since then he had been fighting to repair things. At first, things did not go well. He was forced to stand in the snow for four days and beg forgiveness. Over half of his territories had been lost to him.

Finally, things had started to turn around. He began a campaign to take back the surrounding lands. Most of the Diet had supported his claim to Rome. But, just as things had started to finally get back into his grasp, Rome and investiture had slipped away again. In the Diet, he had been involved in too many conflicts with the Dukes. The situation in Italy was complicated by bloody wars with both Milan and Venice. And a servant, no, puppet of Gregory had been elected to the office of Chancellor in Maximillian Mandorf, all but denying him the prospect of redemption forever.

He had somehow managed to work around it all, getting Duke Otto involved in an elaborate plan to legally declare war on the Papacy. It had worked, to most of the Electors' outrage and chagrin. He had finally been given a chance to right the largest wrong of them all.

The Diet still denounced and demonized him. Never mind the fact that Dietrich von Saxony, Fredricus von Hamburg, and the other disbelieving Franconians finally had a free hand to drive back the Poles. Never mind the fact that Prinz Henry and the other Swabians now had nothing standing in their way to enact revenge on the French, or Duke Leopold and the Austrians against the Venetians. He had given the Electors a means of extending the glory of their Houses without any outside interference, but very few people had realized it. Gregory had done an excellent job.

"Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul.
But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.
For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.
I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.
Help me, O Lord my God: O save me according to thy mercy:
That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, Lord, hast done it.
Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.
Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul."

Heinrich had won a resounding victory in his capture of Rome, but there was still the ultimate resolution to be fought. Gregory still lived, and as long as he did, Heinrich would be perceived as the lesser man.

Time to get going, Heinrich thought as he stood up, the process taking longer than usual due to his aged knees. The moment to forever decide his final reputation, his final legacy, had come at last.

[OverKnight]

Otto was back at Bern, lined up with his men for an assault. Beside him Sigismund was extolling the troops, "Men of Bavaria, follow von Kassel to the death."

Sigismund turned to him, and that is when he noticed the man's throat was cut and his face mottled in asphyxiation. All at once the siege towers burst into flames casting a red glare over the dead man's features.

The fire was now coming from a brazier, the Kaiser's face floating over it bathed in shadow and flame, "If you accept and you cross me, you will be wishing that you were put on watchtower duty."

The die is cast.

Suddenly, he was bound to a stake, on a pyre erected in the middle of the Diet. The Electors were gathered there, and Maximillian stood before him holding a torch. "YOU HAVE DAMNED US!", screamed Mandorf as he tossed the torch into the kindling. The flames leapt up.

I have to deal with the world the way it is.

"Even if nobody we like is in the preferati, I can always... depose them," said the Kaiser, as he hung from a cross in a Bolognese church.

I sold my soul for the promise of a royal wife and a title.

Otto sat on a throne in the Great Hall of Innsbruck, the crown of Bavaria on his head. A roaring fire in the hearth turned the room crimson. Around him were scattered the bodies of his family and friends, butchered and left for the crows.

"Of course you may join your comrades", Otto heard himself say, "You have fought bravely and will be released. After, of course, we hack off your head. I will not have you wearing a crown again!"

The question is what should I do about it?

The axe fell and Otto screamed. . .and woke up.

Outside Genoa, 1154

Otto's tent lay among the large Bavarian siege camp. Inside, the Duke of Bavaria started up in his bed, breathing raggedly. His wife stirred beside him, turned over and resumed snoring.

Getting up from bed, Otto threw on a robe against the chill of the night, and exited the tent. Looking south his gaze took in the siege works and beyond that the city of Genoa. Once the city is taken and Gregory is killed, thought Otto, This must end.

Returning to the tent he lit a candle, placed it on a desk, and sat before it. He stared into the flame, it flickered and danced in the darkness.

"Otto?", mumbled Elsebeth, "What are you doing up? Come back to bed."

"Later Princess," replied Otto, his eyes not moving from the fire, "I have some letters to write."

[OverKnight]

Rome, 1154

Otto's head rung from the slap.

"You bastard!", hissed Elsebeth, "Is what I heard in the Diet true? Is what I heard from my ladies-in-waiting true?"

Otto reached up and massaged his jaw, this was not the greeting he had expected after returning from the Emergency Diet session.

"I do not know Elsebeth", replied Otto, "What have they told you?"

Elsebeth slapped him again.

"Don't play stupid with me Otto! I have been told that you and my Father conspired to bring about the confrontation with Gregory, and that I was the bribe needed to make this happen! Otto von Kassel, second son and mere soldier of the Reich, needed lands and a title, my father needed a pliant Duke, and so I was married off to you to seal the deal!"

Otto grunted, someone had made damn sure that this information made it to Elsebeth, but who? Still, she would have found out eventually.

"Yes Princess, what you have heard was true. I am sorry it is so, but your father needed it done, and if it was not me, it would have been someone else who married you for the same price. That is the lot of royal daughters."

Elsebeth slapped him again.

"At least you have the bravery to be honest about your treachery! Even now, you use me as an excuse not go on my brother's Crusade! How dare you bring up our child troubles? Do you think me so weak and delicate that I can't handle the rigors of travel? You of all people need to cleanse your sins!"

Otto gaped, "But my lady, it was not an excuse, I would not drag you across Europe. There is much to be done here to rebuild Bavaria and heal the wounds of the investiture crisis. I regret my actions, but. . ."

Elsebeth tried to slap him again, but Otto caught her arm and pulled her forward. They were very close now.

"Beth, please stop that", Otto said quietly, "I do regret my actions in the crisis. I wish there had been another way. I tried my best to control it, to make sure the madness didn't continue. . .but if I hadn't said yes we would have never been married. I do love you, I hope you know that."

The Princess looked up at him, she brought up her hand and cupped his face where she had struck him, "Otto, I hear your words, but you still struggle against yourself. I love you, your better half that is. Let go of the anger and the greed, be a true Knight."

Otto smiled sadly, "Ah yes, Roland, what would he do? Go on the Crusade and leave the trappings of power behind, most like."

Elsebeth nodded, "But there is more, you must believe it in your heart. You must act in a Chivalrous manner. You must seek true forgiveness with an open mind and a clean soul."

Otto grimaced, "You sound like Maximillian, my love."

He sighed heavily, "You are right, however, though I am loathe to admit it. Well, if I am to be true Knight, than I would ask my Lady for her favor. A piece of silk perhaps?"

Elsebeth kissed Otto and then moved over to a chest. Removing an item she came back to her husband.

"You may have my favor, Otto", she said, "But I doubt a kerchief will be to your liking. Now this is more fitting."

Elsebeth presented Otto with a small dagger. It was sheathed in a scabbard that was embroidered with the quartered arms of the Empire and Bavaria. A delicate blade, but sharp.

"I no longer have need of this. Perhaps you will find it useful. I hope it will remind you of your new calling when in battle."

Otto smiled, accepting the blade, "Are you sure Beth? The times ahead will be difficult. I will be glad to have you with me, but it will not be easy for you."

Elsebeth nodded and they embraced. Their path was set.